russia and the e.u. should be partners by choice not mine assess it as the view of the european union as it outlines its vision for relations between the two during that first trip to brussels since returning to the presidency. which has already. a million documents being paid to be released during the sounds of promises no country in the world will remain unaffected by new wiki leaks revelations and in twenty thirteen. russia's lower house of parliament approved banning americans from adopting russian children in retaliation from america's so-called magnitsky act.

and online twenty four hours a day you're watching r.t. . russia e.u. corporation should be defined by choice and not forced by necessity that's how europe sees a future ties with russia that view is echoed by president putin he was in brussels for talks with the blocs leaders for the first time since his return to the kremlin . has more. a lot of speculation happened before the summit that this will be a meeting of confrontation rather than corporation but it actually turned out absolutely the opposite scenario all these speakers. started off by saying that the trade turnover between the e.u. and russia has grown significantly now it's exceeding three hundred billion euros a year and this is a good sign but both sides expressed their willingness to make it

a corporation by choice not to by necessity but clearly the biggest contradictions still remain in the issues of the energy supplies from russia to the european continent i'd like to remind to our viewers that the e.u. still has a certain accusations and certainly has some things they say about. wanting them to allow the access to the governmental access to their pipelines in europe while gas from certainly says this may not happen but today we've heard a lot of statements from both the european union leaders and putin on that issue in particular. saying that russia is not against all these kind of regulations but the only problem is that the two thousand and nine legislation made by europe in terms of the monopoly on the gas pipes now concerns the deals which had been struck before that and the russian president described that as completely uncivilized still hoping that sides will be managed will manage to find some sort of compromise

there during the press conference the energy issue took the majority of the of the time from the speakers and in the end of the press conference was even humorous about the very rather long reply by mr barroso. my friend of many years mr barroso has been explaining his position on gas prices for so long because he realizes that he's wrong just read our cooperation agreement with the. prices are dictated by markets not by government. and definitely the energy sector is very . important and certainly dominated the talks but of course side also talked about the visa free travel for e.u. citizens and russians saying that this is a possibility in the very nearest future and also touching upon the geopolitical issues such as the syrian conflict where a lot of reporting certainly reiterated russia's stance that this has to be dealt with behind the negotiations table not by the violence not by a military conflict and there seem to be lots of understanding between the european

leaders and the reporting on that of the conflict in syria has also been raised by russia's foreign minister an exclusive interview with r.t. so gay lover of believes that nato is a recent decision to deploy patriot missiles on the turkish border may not be designed just to protect against trucks from syrian territory he suggests there are indications the systems may also be useful against iran while talking about possible regime change in syria the foreign minister insisted that russia will play no part. in the business of regime change. some of the. regional players were suggesting to us why don't you tell president to leave we will arrange for a. safe haven for him my answer is very simple if indeed those who suggest the stores have this in mind they should take it directly

to president that's why show the use ourselves. if present us of those interested this must be discussed directly with scheme during the sun she is promising that wiki leaks will release more than a million secret files over the next year in publications that will affect every country in the world it was gave a christmas address from the ecuadorian embassy in london where he's been for half a year in what was his first public appearance since august. has more or less. the world's media and its supporters have come out for him this evening also holding a candlelight vigil he called the crowd when he came out. and then he mocked his six months in the embassy by talking about it saying that he entered the building and it's become his home base right to the principles of the religious people who have taken him in and then he said that he is able to communicate to the people

here unlike two hundred thirty two journalists who are currently in jail all over the world he named a few of them and he also spoke of bradley manning who have put is accused of leaking documents to wiki leaks and he said he suited journalists and others to stand up to oppression let's listen in to what he's got to say people often ask what can i do the answer is not so difficult to learn how the world works challenge the statements and intentions of those who seek to control behind a facade of democracy and more nikki unite in common purpose and common principle to design documents and to fin. back now two thousand and twelve. to wiki leaks he has written a book you'll see made a show and wiki leaks has continued to release documents but it seems that two

thousand and thirteen will be no less busy a team have prepared a million documents which they promise to release with information that he says relates to every single government around the world and he also reiterated his plans to run for the australian senate so the message here is he might be cut cooped up inside the at the door and embassy based certainly not resting on his laurels we have a christmas address in full on our website r.t. dot com where you can also get more on the top of the exposures he's planning. today. these are the images the world. can. giant corporations rule the day.

the russian lower house of parliament has passed a bill targeting americans accused of abusing the human rights of russians abroad and also bans americans from adopting russian children where the move comes in response to the u.s. is called magnitsky act has caused controversy in russia. france has more on the attack for tat. the most divisive part of this bill is definitely the provision talking about adoption of russian children by american families it was approved overwhelmingly by the duma four hundred twenty four she's just seven and it's been opposed by the education ministry and human rights activists citing that many of these children that do get adopted by american families have disabilities and they're given a better life in another country now bill backers have been unhappy for some time about the adoption process that takes place between russia and the united states

nineteen children have died at the hands of their u.s. adoptive parents in the last several years and to moscow has wanted to be more involved in securing the human rights of children that do head overseas with those families this russian bill is in response to so-called magnitsky act adopted in the u.s. now this all began when that lawyer sergei magnitsky died in pretrial detention here in moscow in november of two thousand and nine he had accused russian officials of major tax fraud and died in jail while under investigation for investments u.s. lawmakers have wanted to hold responsible the people who it thinks may have been responsible for his death by freezing assets and revoking visas moscow has seen this is a very anti russian piece of legislation so this bill is in response to that that

it will not only freeze assets and revoke visas of americans that it feels has violated the human rights of russians it will also doubt that the adoption of russian children over to the united states at the next step for this it's got to pass the upper chamber of the russian parliament and then it's got to go for a signature by the president. well russia says the observance of basic human rights and liberties is becoming an increasingly serious problem and the european union are sensing dog off their foreign ministry's commissioner for human rights told r.t. why moscow decided to target europe why the european union because the european union positions and most of its members position themselves as. who works of democracy has certain yardsticks by which the international community absolutely must measure its own record wreckers in the field of human rights

and nobody disputes by the way the fact that european union assertion the european quite a number of its members not all but quite a number of its members develop democracies but what we see is there despite those facts there are some other facts there are a very serious challenges and problems in the european union and in each and every over its member countries in the field of human rights and they can watch the full interview with the foreign ministries commissioner for human rights at six pm g.m.t. here in r.t. . also ahead for you this hour yemen's president attempts to break away from the political heritage of the country's ousted leader and show an increasing interest in internal affairs of the gulf states that want. us the u.k. is prepared to withdraw its troops from afghanistan and hundreds of british

soldiers killed millions of helpless spent on the war that after a short break. was his day starts at five am even earlier in the winter tending to his flock of story hundred sheep in the mountains and plains of. thirty five years old it wasn't the life he dreamt of having studied accounting but he dition and familiar duty dictated that he would take on the care of these animals after his father has just made camp their winter founded setting up his ute judicial to fenian round tent made of diskin. back amongst his family as his job is a lonely one and tough going out in all weathers braving extremes of plus to minus forty degrees celsius just get on with them there are certain difficulties there's not enough time for everything i'm almost alone my sister works with my mother my

mother is seventy five she's very old and i miss mountains when i'm in town and i spend a lot of time here right now probably so on that's about as simply carrying out the work that his father did and his father before him nothing has changed over many many centuries and that's half the problem it's hard work and many people don't want to come into the industry now and it's really fit there could die out altogether. it's difficult to manage everything alone i used to have people who helped me but they were no good they didn't take care of the sheep with all their heart they hurt the cattle. with more people leaving than coming to the countryside the region's government is having to act making the life of the herd and more attractive they're promising largest subsidies for produce and livestock and organizing cooperatives for the sale of day products to ensure the herd or get so high at fair price i sympathize with those youngsters leaving for an easier more profitable life there in the public's capital because ill but he no longer wishes

to join them he enjoys his pastoral way of life and looking for a helper who shares his enthusiasm with more time on his hands he says matter of fact plea. for international news for you now this out. now yemen is in for a defense shakeup as its u.s. backed president tries to break away from the legacy of the country's ousted leader the former president stepped down following a mass protest almost a year ago under a power transfer brokered by washington and the country's gulf neighbors what is going to chicken now explores why the u.s. is sowing gaged in yemen's internal affairs. as washington continues to make

a moral case for its covert wars on terror yemen is presented as a place that is full of terrorists getting ready to attack america but very few think of yemen as a chokepoint of vast economic interests yemen is the poorest country in the middle east but it's sitting on one of the most important trade routes in the wall the bubble mendip straight most people have heard about the so west can now world war three almost broke out over the canal right that's how important it is but bob amanda doesn't instantly ring a bell although it's basically an extension of this west canal and is a similar strategic importance almost all of europe's trade with china japan india and the rest of asia passes through babel mend up every day that's how important it is some argue that washington sees terrorism in yemen as a problem in the sense that it could have an adverse impact on economic interests at stake the united states wouldn't be engaged in such a conflict in yemen if it didn't hold

a very specific geo political and strategic necessity for the u.s. i think most importantly of course is access to the strait which is one of the highest trafficked waterways in the world. the u.s. already has a vast military presence in the persian gulf to secure a key oil shipping lanes under the banner of chasing terrorists the u.s. is setting up new drone bases on the arabian peninsula including one in djibouti which is on the other side of the strait of babel and that the arrangement that the united states government has with the yemeni government is basically one of bribery we bribe them with money and weapons and in exchange we get to bomb their country with impunity. but it may be a dangerous proposition for the yemeni government because of the op for the strikes have caused among the population. an american claim on this place and seventeen. people they were in a cynic they did not deserve to die. i wanted some way to go we were protesting

a year for it to happen he left them what we have now americans are coming to our land secure the journalist who shot these images of a two thousand and nine drone strike in yemen that killed fourteen women and twenty one children is now in jail abdul a high to shine was accused of aiding terror it was about to deal with but the yemeni government reverse this decision after a call from the white house. because of the secrecy surrounding the program there was no way of knowing when the administration is out of target and some fear washington might continue the bombing to maintain control in the region the challenge here is something similar to what happened in. former yugoslavia when when they were looking for targets to bomb serbia prior to the dayton accords and the military. planners came to to richard holbrooke and they said well you know honestly we've run out of targets we've bombed everything and he's in holbrooke so

we have to keep this bombing up and they said well before we've already hit the store you said bomb them again find secondary targets because they needed to keep up the pressure now my fear is that in order to keep up the pressure on al qaeda or its associated organizations the united states will explain you know its definition of who is the legitimate target washington is helping the current yemeni government in order for it not to fail and to be friendly to the us friendly enough to allow the u.s. to bomb them as washington sees fit and friendly enough not to mess with this vital trade route but historically start kind of a prop by the united states as often led to alienating much of the local population that sooner or later gets the sense that their government is serving its own interests and the interest of those thousands of miles away in washington i'm going to check in. online feel now. the number of deaths from car accidents may be on the

decline in the u.s. but is no cause for complacency with starting a search suggesting american citizens will soon be more likely to lose their lives in shootings than motor accidents. only increase. some are breathing a sigh of relief that the mayan calendar prediction of the end of the world hasn't come to fruition here around the globe bracing themselves for armageddon you could have tried to dot com where we lined up more stories and. with britain preparing to pull its troops out of afghanistan u.k. scouting its losses in more ways than one more than four hundred british soldiers have been killed in a war which has cost the government

a staggering seventeen billion pounds and it's artie's twenty point two explains the sum is raising a few eyebrows especially with austerity cuts being felt at home. seventeen billion pounds the british government has just revealed that that's been the cost of the so far eleven year war in afghanistan now it was a very field at the same time as a clearer timetable was announced for troop withdrawal from the region but it's those seventeen billion pounds that are being spent that have been spent on for the war on top of the existing defense budget which means the estimates for the final price tag for the afghan war might be something around twenty billion half an ounce and of course the u.k. is going to keep sending money to afghanistan after twenty fourteen they're going to be spending from thing like seventeen million pounds for aid towards the afghan national security forces after twenty fourteen and this is all at the same time as the government announcing prolonged all series here at home that's going to

continue until at least twenty seven hundred twenty eighteen and the chancellor announcing that there's going to be extra welfare cuts and an extra ten billion pounds slashed from the welfare budget i'm joined by john hillery who is the executive director of thank you for the charity you can walk on board to join eleven years later seventeen billion pounds down the line about money have been better spent elsewhere you could hardly really think of any worse way of spending the money as you say if you pointed out here in britain we're seeing an enormous cuts to government spending and to the world budgets about twenty five billion colds can total which actually is almost the same as being spent in the war in afghanistan on defense when they can be justified but this is seventeen billion people over and above the existing british defense budget it's a completely only popular people in britain most of the troops are people in afghanistan want the troops out and no be faced with these massive cuts on top of

people really angry from the eastern team already the defense secretary has said that parts of afghanistan won't be under government control and so that means a lot more questions from the british taxpayers about the eleven years spent fighting the war and the twenty billion pound price tag for it. well to some other international news for you now several people have been injured in clashes in the second largest city i was under police fired tear gas or hosing crowds as protesters demonstrating for and against president lucy the violence comes as egypt prepares for a second round of controversial dropped constitution which is divided the country opponents of the document say it would be to an islamist state. u.s. citizen has been arrested in north korea for unspecified crimes state media says john home into the country last month as a tourist but officials say there's evidence of proving that he committed a crime against the state and has met diplomats from the swedish embassy sweden

represents u.s. interests in north korea because of a lack of diplomatic ties between washington and pyongyang. to become one of the world's industrial titans you need a workforce that's ready for anything but grim statistics in the heart of europe millions about being left behind because they have trouble reading and writing as artie's piece all of. germany and engineering giant a footballing colossus a nation at the very forefront of modern european civilization and this. when i was younger and my friends asked if i wanted to play football i was avoiding it even though i wanted to i was afraid that i might have to read something and that would reveal my problem that i couldn't read or write properly statistics from the ministry of education suggest around seven and a half million germans are functionally illiterate that means that they can read or

write single sentences but nothing more complex than that tim taylor fellner left school without the skills needed to get by in the world he turned to adult education and now works to help others. on the toughest part he says is getting people to confront their illiteracy it cloud there are plenty of people who realize that they have problems you notice that in yourself and you try to hide it many are in denial they think they are ok and are able to keep it covered up you're always making excuses not the closet or tim says large class sizes coupled with parents too busy at work to spend time reading at home has allowed some kids to slip through the cracks also wonder the radar is an estimated three hundred thousand adults who cannot read or write at all the government is running programs to try and tackle this but the numbers and rolling in courses is a drop in the ocean compared to the millions affected. and no one should leave

school without the minimum required skills to function as a member of society this is a major issue and something we hope not only able to make sure doesn't happen in the future like you also help those who have problems now one program that is looking to help functionally illiterate adults in and around the city of cologne has got employers and solved. from small local businesses to huge manufacturing giants. they've agreed to give staff with literacy problems flexible working hours so they can attend classes that get us on plots but it has been a very successful way of getting education to people who perhaps don't have the time to attend regular classes it benefits the employers as well they get to contribute to the local community and in return receive employees with more skills what i've had it is. despite the good work being done by programs like this one out of the estimated seven point five million functionally illiterate people in germany

only five percent are receiving any kind of education peter all over r.t. germany. well the tragedy of the sandy hook massacre has brought america's gun owning culture into sharp focus is the subject of cross talk next here not. divine power in action activate the sacraments. i am he she says we need these we are under the control of those governing us before at the service of

a space mafia i found that on that day the magnetic field of the sun will be fixed into if that will create dissipate the stuff. after the second coming it will be a futile place it will receive its paradoxical glory it will be a renewed world and it will be a beautiful place. full of professed. little stuff this type of ammunition. is good business for us it's kind of like being a doctor you know if there's a disaster businesses. better unfortunately.

hello and welcome to cross talk i'm peter lavelle death by gunshot with the heart wrenching murder of twenty children six adults in newtown connecticut there appears to be a change of mood in the u.s. about its gun laws and culture of violence well this tragedy be

a catalyst for change or merely a blip in america's love affair with guns. to cross town guns in america i'm joined by roger payne washington he is the founder and director of cato center for constitutional studies in san francisco we have scott blakeman he is a political comedian and commentator and in paris we cross to rachel marston she's a political communications strategist and a syndicated columnist right cross talk rules in effect to this the very delicate subject and it's really taking the attention of the american people here we heard president obama talking about it that something has to change scott in san francisco do you think that's possible is the mood change enough to change a culture of violence in america absolutely i think that the horrific shooting in newtown connecticut really is the tipping point and things have already changed first.